TODAY’S HISTORY

1781: German-born astronomer William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus.

1865: The Confederacy approved the use of slave troops against Union armies. 1925: A law prohibiting the teaching of evolution went into effect in Tennessee.

1991: The U.S. Justice Dept. announced that

Exxon had agreed to pay $1 billion to settle all claims resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.

2013: Pope Francis was elected the

266th pope of the Catholic Church.

TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS:

Percival Lowell (1855-1916), astronomer; Giorgos Seferis (19001971), poet; Walter Annenberg (1908-2002), publisher/philanthropist; Sammy Kaye (1910-1987), bandleader; L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986), author/church of Scientology founder; Al Jaffee (1921-), cartoonist; Neil Sedaka (1939-), singer-songwriter; William H. Macy (1950-), actor; Dana Delany (1956-), actress; Common (1972-), rapper/actor; Johan Santana (1979-), baseball player; Emile Hirsch (1985-), actor.

TODAY’S FACT: The 27 known moons of Uranus are named after characters from the works of William Shakespeare and Alexander Pope.

TODAY’S SPORTS: In 1960, the NFL approved the relocation of the Chicago Cardinals franchise to St. Louis.

TODAY’S QUOTE: “When we hold back out of laziness, that is when we tie ourselves into knots of boredom.” — Walter Annenberg

TODAY’S NUMBER: 14.5 — length in miles of the undersea portion of the Seikan Tunnel in Japan, the longest and deepest operational rail tunnel in the world, which opened this day in 1988.

TODAY’S MOON: New moon (March 13).